car suddenly wont start - never ran great anyway, esp. cold, now cranks, but won't st

rjSupra · 03-29-2011, 02:06 AM

Car stranded me after work one day and refused to start in relatively cold weather (30 F?) Would not start at all no matter what I did. If my car is cold I usually blip the throttle a little bit and back it off to start it. I've noticed if it doesn't start the first try I am usually screwed and it won't start at all. Especially if I can't start on 2 tried, I'm really in trouble.
Oh, the batt is good, the motor cranks and cranks and almost starts when it's bad and then won't run.
Jumped it the next day and it started on try #2. If the car is warm, it can start with no throttle. Down to 13.2 MPG, and running really poorly. Worse than before and harder to start. I have so little power up inclines. Even with the turbo at +6 on the gauge I can accelerate up big hills but not much. Without a lot of boost, I loose speed and crawl up them. Climbed a very steep but less than quarter mile hill and my car temp went up really high - about 80% of the gauge last night as I was going super slow up it.

To set and check ignition timing, I just borrowed a friend's timing gun and followed the TSRM online and my Haynes Celica 86 and on models manual and I had no light at all coming from the gun with the thing all connected right and the car warm and running with the T - E terminals connected. Dunno if the gun is broken or I am doing it wrong. (Sunpro timing gun with red lead onto batt +, blk lead onto batt - or grounded to alt bracket and I got no light). Other end onto #6 spark wire - cleaned and solid contact on the inductive clamp, then on #1 spark wire, then on #4 and #5 with a bad connection on #5, no light from anything.

And, I checked and all my engine error codes are cleared after starting the car about 8 times and running it 3 times a total of about 40 miles. So far the O2 sensor error is not back, nor the Igniter / Ignition coil error code.
I also found I have a spare ignitor that came from a donor car, it looks visually a little better than the igniter in my car - should I switch that out in case?

03-29-2011, 02:06 AM	#19
rjSupra 3" Exhaust Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NH Posts: 86	no light out of timing gun, engine error code re-set also Car stranded me after work one day and refused to start in relatively cold weather (30 F?) Would not start at all no matter what I did. If my car is cold I usually blip the throttle a little bit and back it off to start it. I've noticed if it doesn't start the first try I am usually screwed and it won't start at all. Especially if I can't start on 2 tried, I'm really in trouble. Oh, the batt is good, the motor cranks and cranks and almost starts when it's bad and then won't run. Jumped it the next day and it started on try #2. If the car is warm, it can start with no throttle. Down to 13.2 MPG, and running really poorly. Worse than before and harder to start. I have so little power up inclines. Even with the turbo at +6 on the gauge I can accelerate up big hills but not much. Without a lot of boost, I loose speed and crawl up them. Climbed a very steep but less than quarter mile hill and my car temp went up really high - about 80% of the gauge last night as I was going super slow up it. To set and check ignition timing, I just borrowed a friend's timing gun and followed the TSRM online and my Haynes Celica 86 and on models manual and I had no light at all coming from the gun with the thing all connected right and the car warm and running with the T - E terminals connected. Dunno if the gun is broken or I am doing it wrong. (Sunpro timing gun with red lead onto batt +, blk lead onto batt - or grounded to alt bracket and I got no light). Other end onto #6 spark wire - cleaned and solid contact on the inductive clamp, then on #1 spark wire, then on #4 and #5 with a bad connection on #5, no light from anything. And, I checked and all my engine error codes are cleared after starting the car about 8 times and running it 3 times a total of about 40 miles. So far the O2 sensor error is not back, nor the Igniter / Ignition coil error code. I also found I have a spare ignitor that came from a donor car, it looks visually a little better than the igniter in my car - should I switch that out in case? __________________ 88 Supra 7M-GTE Turbo, TEMS, Targa stock Last edited by rjSupra; 03-29-2011 at 02:12 AM.